Picturesque Sintra

The real name of Rainbow Palace is Pena Palace. It is located on the Sintra Mountain in western Portugal, but I like to call it the Rainbow Palace because it is as colorful as a rainbow.

Rainbow Palace is a romantic palace in the19th century, and its architectural history can be traced back to the Middle Ages. 1755 Lisbon earthquake is a turning point. It used to be a small monastery, and then the summer palace of the Portuguese royal family was gradually built on the ruins.

Probably because you are on the mountain, you need to meander up the mountain road to reach the Rainbow Palace. The first sight came from the red and yellow palace walls hidden behind the trees. Against the blue sky, it is less luxurious than the aristocratic palace, but more like an amusement park full of childlike interest.

Rainbow Palace combines various architectural styles, with a dazzling red bell tower and a yellow covered bridge on one side, as if entering a castle in a fairy tale world; On the other side is the onion dome in Arabic style, which seems to be mixed with the exotic customs in the story of Arabian Nights; The middle becomes a wall with small blue and purple tiles. The carvings outside the window are complex and elegant. Above the entrance is Triton, the sea messenger in Greek mythology. He looks fierce, guarding the entrance. It is said that it symbolizes the birth of a new world. Color collision, different styles. At first glance, it seems that the designers of the palace forcibly mixed different buildings together, but the result was unexpectedly harmonious.

You can also see Portuguese ceramic tile art here, and I especially like these exquisite small tiles. Some are only simple geometric prints, but they are better than rich colors and full shapes; Some also have stories of characters, such as a soldier with a long sword and shield pushing his opponent to the wall, the loser's sword is broken because of fear, and the winner's golden cloak is fluttering in the wind, which is more realistic.

Because the palace is located at the top of the mountain, the angle of view is excellent. It is said that when the weather is fine, you can see Pena Palace from a distance in Lisbon. I didn't know it before, so I missed the opportunity.

Now standing on the platform of the Rainbow Palace, there happens to be a solitary tree standing on a high place like a relic, witnessing this picturesque beauty day and night, making people feel the eternity of natural life and the limitation of human life. At the same time, you can also see the ruins of moore city City Wall entrenched in the mountains. In contrast, the Rainbow Palace is colorful and beautiful, while broken walls and moore city. Later, we went to Moore Castle, where it was another scene to look back at Pena Palace.

Palaces have always been equipped with gardens, and Rainbow Palace is no exception. Pena Garden surrounds the palace and covers an area of 200 hectares. In order to echo the exotic atmosphere of the palace, there are trees from all over the world in the park, such as Ginkgo biloba in China and Cryptomeria japonica in Japan. Although I don't know much about trees, I feel very comfortable walking on this maze-like path, with green trees, lush vegetation and flowing water.

After leaving the Rainbow Palace, we went to the Moorish castle, which is actually very close. Moor Castle has a very long history, which was built by Moors in the 8th and 9th centuries. In the following 100 years, with the frequent occurrence of religious disputes and natural disasters, the castle was gradually abandoned and became a relic. In this way, this military fortress, which once guarded the whole area, was slowly swallowed up by the tall grass on sintra Mountain.

When I came to the foot of the castle wall, I walked along the wall and looked around. The mountain is steep, built on the mountain and strewn at random. The old flavor actually has some charm of the Great Wall. Only the flags flying in the battlements are brightly colored and should be replaced soon.

The weather is fine, tourists are weaving, and we follow the crowd along the city wall. There are lush vegetation inside and outside the city walls, and there are houses with red roofs and white walls in sintra. Further afield, the Great sea and the sky meets the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Sure enough, we saw Pena Palace again. Under the scorching sun, the gorgeous colors are a little hard to distinguish, but we still saw the bell tower and dome tower at a glance.

In sintra, there are many palaces and manors listed as world heritage sites, but I like Pena Palace and Moore Castle best. They live next to each other, but the contrast is so strong that one is colorful and the other is broken, which makes people have to watch and think quietly. There are rainbows and weeds on sintra Mountain, but only when there are both, is sintra.